Like most of the midwest this summer, my garden is both hot and dry this year. I had to water the sunflowers. In all my years of gardening, I can't remember ever having to water sunflowers, they were always so tough they didn't need it, but last week mine were wilting from the heat and lack of rain.

My raspberries are in full swing. They're in a low spot in the yard, and every few days we turn the hose on them and give them a good soak. Still, the berries are looking a little shriveled compared to previous years.

My nephew and I picked some crab apples yesterday. There's a variety that the city planted just around the corner from my parent's house, in a median strip on a quiet road. This variety has apples that are almost as big and sweet as Red Delicious, and since no one picks them except me and the raccoons, they're free for the taking. They looked red enough to be ripe when I was driving past, so I thought that, like most fruits this year, they might have ripened early due to the early spring. I could tell the moment I touched one that they weren’t ready, though. Unfortunately I have no voice, and my nephew does this stream-of-conciousness thing where he talks non-stop about anything that passes through his head, and he was very enthusiastic about picking apples. As a result of those factors, it took me long enough to grab ahold of him and get his attention that, by the time I got him to stop picking, he had stripped 3 branches already! He's going to be great help when they actually are ripe! I didn't like the idea of wasting food, so I cooked them up as a pie filling and canned them. We got 2 quarts out of it. With enough molasses, brown sugar, and cinnamon, even green apples can be pretty good!

2
posted on 06/29/2012 10:33:13 AM PDT
by Ellendra
("It's astounding how often people mistake their own stupidity for a lack of fairness." --Thunt)

It was 103 here yesterday, supposed to be 105 today and 107 tomorrow. All of my land plants are suffering even though I try to keep them watered. The only thing doing any good here are my fish pond and bog plants that grow in an ornamental pond or one of my tub bogs. I grow Japanese Lotus in tubs. Here is the Angel Wing Lotus.

The Peterson Brothers made the video (a parody) because they hated the rap song, "I'm sexy and I show it". They were featured on Fox & Friends this AM. All dressed up in starched shirts and ties they were really cute and charming. They said their 11 year old sister did the filming.

107° yesterday here in Central Missouri. The highest temp ever officially recorded for the month of June. 2” of rain since May 5. In spite of that my garden is thriving (thanks to copious irrigation). Sweet corn is coming in, blackberries are coming in, nectarines are done, peaches getting close, summer squash coming in, tomatoes just around the corner.

Our native sunflowers are blooming early, and at only 6-18” tall! Never seen them do that before this year.

It hit 106 a few days ago.

Yesterday, used grass clippings & shredded paper to do the final ‘hilling’ on about half of the potatoes. I’ll be getting another trailer load of clippings, as soon as they’re available, to do the rest; I get them from the State Veterans Home in town. 600’ of Yukon Gold, and they are already starting to bloom. There is NO straw, which is what I had planned on using, available within 50 miles; everyone is totally out & can’t get any.

I also hand weeded between the stalks of 6-25’ rows of Serendipity corn; then ran the tiller between the rows. Today, I’ll give them, as well as the okra, a side dressing of 10-10-10.

The broccoli, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and onions all got a shot of manure tea.

The owner of the restaurant that saves me all her coffee grounds has also retaken over a coffee stand she built then sold a few years ago, and I’m now getting those grounds, too.

The heat is starting to do in the peas; the coriander is blooming, so we’ll be getting the seed soon.

The surviving strawberries, especially the 2 that were least affected, are putting out runners like crazy, and appear to be healthy; best guess is they were hit by verticillium. The daughter plants should have better resistance, according to Mr. Darwin.

What are flea beatles?
The heat...105+ degree weather is killing almost eveything even though I have camoflage netting for shade.
Last evening I found green beatles that look like squash bugs on everything...even my tomatoes.

I’m wondering about my tomatoe plants purchased from Lowe’s.
I only have three. #1 is supposed to cherry tomatoes. The plant is huge, the tomatoes are tiny and not worth eating.
#2. In spite of my intensive care, the standard size tomatoe never bloomed, stayed puny yellow green and now is dead. #3 Is a Roma tomatoe. It puts out beautiful green folage, few tomatoes..and they rot.
I’ve never had these problems before. Is it me? The weather?
Is anyone else having similar problems with store bought plants?

It's been above 100 for days. Friend said it got to 111 at their house a couple days ago. The corn burned up again this year. I'll give it next year and if it still doesn't produce, then no more. The green beans are done. The kohl rabi just started to make but it's in sad shape. The onions are done so I'll just pull the rest this week and call it a season. The tomatoes aren't doing much. I get about one or two a day. The bell and sweet peppers aren't putting on anymore and some plants didn't produce at all. I had started them back in January.

The jalapenos are doing fine but they are HOOOOOOTTTTTT!!!! My hands burn for days when I chop one or two and you can't eat them. I haven't had a habanero that hot. I tried roasting a couple but that ran us out of the house coughing. Those seeds are going in the trash. It's ridiculous. I'd hoped to put up salsa but with no tomatoes and these peppers off the scoville chart, oh well.

IIRC, Above about 85-90 during the day; or below about 55 at night, they don’t set fruit even if they bloom. Too far out of those ranges, and the buds don’t even open, but fall off. It can also affect any that are set, if they are immature.

Thanks for the ping. This is my favorite time of the week; to see all my fav FReepers and to talk gardening and other non-political things, like recipes. It does seem as though we need a second alternate to the keeper of the ping list, just in case Justa and Red are out of pocket.

Our tomatos are coming in great now, both the Big Boys and Grape tomatos, we have an eggplant that is growing, lots of banana peppers about 6" long. Our second garden, the okra patch that is way out back is growing well, being only one month old. Im not sure how long till it matures and produces.

My wifes flower beds are all doing great now; all of this year's plants have taken hold and are thriving.

Our plants of all descriptions, and in all areas are doing well in this Texas heat largely due to having drip irrigation on timers watering everything automatically.

Insecticides. For conventional growers, pesticides containing pyrethroids or carbamates (Sevin) are generally effective. On organic farms, rotenone was often used in the past, but it is not ideal because it is has a relatively high mammalian toxicity and its availability has become limited. Other materials often recommended for organic farms include neem or insecticidal soap but recent research indicates that these are not very effective. Other insecticides containing pyrethrins (Pyganic) or kaolin clay (Surround) have worked well in some studies but not others. Good control has consistently been obtained with the organic pesticide containing spinosad (Entrust) but this product is not yet labeled for flea beetle control. Insect repellents containing hot pepper or garlic may also provide some control. If you are an organic grower check with your certifying agent to be sure any material you use is approved for your use.

Commercial formulations of entomopathogenic nematodes may be helpful in reducing flea beetle damage. Applied to the soil, the nematodes attack beetle larvae, reducing root feeding and helping to prevent the next cycle of adults. For beneficial nematodes to be effective, they should be applied when larvae are present and the soil must not be allowed to dry out.

I love pie season.. and miss it too.. My yout’ was spent in Minniesoda,, we had all kinds of pies to feast on when harvest time came around. I never ate so good or worked so hard in my life.. I never tried making jams and preserves and such.. I had 4 sisters to do that.. now’s its the kids doing it. bon appetit!

The tomaties are doing OK , the pear and apple crop will be light as is so I’m seriesly keeping an eye on squirrels.. so far they are eating over at the neighbor’s fruit. slingshots is at the standby. ;-]

You are starving them for water. I saved some seeds from my hottest jalapeno pepper last year for our friend. She is like me, and keeps them well watered. She said they are too mild. Ours are the same.

22
posted on 06/29/2012 1:09:56 PM PDT
by Arrowhead1952
(It's time to take out the trash in DC.)

I think our high temp has been 74 here in Benderville this year. Our amended soil retains moisture well and everything is lush and green. Kohlrabi is coming on and I have suddenly run out of FRiends to give it to. We now return you to Nascar qualifying at Kentucky Speedway...

My dad had some “mild” jalapeno he planted in the garden years ago that got little if any water. They were too hot for us to eat. Our friend told us you have to starve them from water to make them hot. Our peppers are not much hotter than banana peppers.

27
posted on 06/29/2012 3:35:34 PM PDT
by Arrowhead1952
(It's time to take out the trash in DC.)

Ok, twice a day waterings! Water puts out fire. They are happy little plants and not the least wilted. Watered them last night and watered in some fertilizer this morning. I like them with just a little kick.

It’s been near 100 all week with no rain in sight. The lawns look like Fresno — worse actually because we have no way to water them. We depend upon God around here. No sprinkler systems.

I’m so glad that I planted NOTHING this year, as I have not been available to tend it. I have a glorious crop of weeds. I have a burdock so big at the “plant” that I’m thining of entering it into the Fair as the “tallest” plant. ;^)

If they are that hot, you may have something other than a regular jalapenos. I planted some peppers labeled jalapeno a few years ago that I took to work for my Hispanic employees. They took one look at them and said those were not the regular jalapeno peppers.

32
posted on 06/29/2012 4:11:37 PM PDT
by Arrowhead1952
(It's time to take out the trash in DC.)

This is the first application of fertilizer they’ve had. They’ve never come close to wilting and they’re under a tree for shade. I’ll keep pouring the water to them. We don’t have a treatment system on our well so the water they get is a combo from the hills and river so they should be happy.

Yeah, thought the same but they look like every other jalapeno I've ever had. These are from those cheap-o Walmart packets which may be a case of you get what you paid for. So, I already have some seeds from some different jalapenoes saved for next year. The banana and bell peppers get the same amount of light and water and are mighty tasty.

I started using seeds from mild peppers we bought during the year. A few years ago, I bought two four packs of banana peppers and one batch turned out to be jalapeno. They were too close together and the banana peppers were as hot as the jalapenos.

37
posted on 06/30/2012 7:33:07 AM PDT
by Arrowhead1952
(It's time to take out the trash in DC.)

We survived our second ‘derecho’ in a week here last night. A derecho is “a widespread and long-lived, violent convectively induced straight-line windstorm that is associated with a fast-moving band of severe thunderstorms in the form of a squall line usually taking the form of a bow echo. Derechos blow in the direction of movement of their associated storms, similar to a gust front, except that the wind is sustained and generally increases in strength behind the “gust” front.” The storm last night was moving at 55 mph with winds clocked as high as 80+. The one Monday was the most ferocious storm I’ve ever been in (including two hurricanes).

No power for two days after the Monday storm. We kept our power last night. A million folks are without power in the DC area, over 100K near us. We were part of a 140K outage around town on Monday. The only ‘good’ thing is that we have gotten rain Monday & last night. It has saved a lot of watering (garden, new lilacs & camellias, newly divided irises, etc.). My sister-in-law’s garden got knocked down pretty badly .... she got most of it propped up again. The triple digit heat is here so it is basically sucking the moisture and life out of all the plants. Ah well, that is ‘good old’ summer time.

38
posted on 06/30/2012 10:20:12 AM PDT
by MissMagnolia
(Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't. (M.Thatcher))

I have a small raised garden. The plants are in the ground.
Our soil is so poor that I treat my garden like a compost pile. Everything goes into it...kitchen stuff, I brought grass clippings from our previous residence, a bail of alfalfa, ashes, sand, potting soil, manure, tomatoe fertilizer... The plants improved this spring...90+ degrees in March...when I mulched with straw.
Again, it’s shaded with camoflage netting.
When I pulled out my dead tomatoe the ground was moist.
I guess it’s just too blooming hot!
Hopefully, these two plants will survive until cooler weather, and get a late crop.
So much for living off the land...
I read that tumble weed is edible...
Frustrating to see everything get a good start and then just go into survival mode!

I grow my tomatoes auqaponically. They are planted in aquatic pots in small rocks in my water garden filter. Since my filter is a homemade combination mechanical/veggie filter this works really well. As long as they are not in soil and the water is constantly moving they don't rot. I plant Rutgers this way since they don't get as heavy. That is important since there is no good way to stake them up. Mine are covered with beautiful tomatoes. The heat doesn't upset them since the flowing water keeps them cool and there is no weeding. :-) There is no better fertilizer than fish poop and the fish poop filled water flows around the roots 24/7.

Here is how they start out. Sorry about all the pictures but I explain the setup better that way.

Here is how they look with the lattice support.

They are sprawling all over the place now and are covered up with good tomatoes. Here they are today. My Jack Russell Terriers have been swimming in the pond so some of my rocks have been moved. Frogs under them don't you know? The pond normally looks much better than this but with 105 degree days I don't have the heart to keep the JRT's out. LOL

Hmmm - I'm at a loss. I grow tomatoes in a raised bed also. 1 plant, a Black Krim, is over 6ft tall and full of fruit. Even my hydroponic tomatoes are producing, and they are in a greenhouse that regularly spikes to over 100F, but the roots are kept cool in the water flow.

I have several tomato plants in pots. I keep the pots shaded and the plants are well watered keep them from growing long and leggy.

43
posted on 06/30/2012 12:45:09 PM PDT
by Sarajevo
(Ever notice that when a beggar gets a donation, they immediately put their hand out for more.)

Thanks! I used to call mine hydroponics but I read that if it’s hydroponics the plants are usually hanging with water flowing over the roots. Aquaponics is when the plants are planted in pots in water, or bare root, and actually submerged with water flowing over them. Both work great with tomatoes since they naturally like water. I put the lattice over them to keep the plants out of the water as they grow. Both ways are same in principle.

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